Eugene weekly., July 14, 2011, Page 11, Image 11

SHIFTY
POLITICS
lane county’s awkward new lean to the right
By Camilla Mortensen
Mothers all want their
sons to grow up to be
president, but they don’t
want them to become
politicians in the process
— John F. Kennedy
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olitics, it would seem, is inseparable from
process. It’s not what politicians get done; it’s
how they do it.
Or is it? The Board of Lane County
Commissioners, in particular the more liberal,
anti-sprawl, pro-environment commissioners,
has come under fi re. Hits to the board have
ranged from a timber-funded lawsuit that targeted the more left
politicians on the county board and has set a peculiar precedent
for what is a public meeting — or a public meeting process — to
criticism over how the county will make cuts to its ever-shrinking
budget. County efforts to build a more green and sustainable local
economy and local energy have also been “sabotaged,” apparently
without public process.
The lawsuit focused on process. It alleged that Commissioners
Pete Sorenson and Rob Handy, as well as former Commissioner Bill
Fleenor, violated public meetings laws in their discussions about the
county budget. Coos County Circuit Judge Michael Gillespie, in a
controversial ruling, found that Sorenson and Handy had done so,
even though the evidence did not show that any three commissioners
were even in the same room together talking about the issue.
Gillespie also found that Commissioner Faye Stewart and former
Commissioner Bill Dwyer had met inappropriately, but because the
suit, funded by Seneca-Jones Timber Co., did not name them, they
were not found in violation or asked to pay thousands as a result of
the settlement. The settlement did not require Handy and Sorenson
to admit any wrongdoing in the case.
The suit was criticized as a politically motivated effort to hurt
the liberal commissioners, and if it was an effort to hurt the leftward
lean of the board as a whole, it worked. Fleenor did not run again for
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the West Lane commission seat, and Libertarian-turned-Republican
Jay Bozievich took the spot in the last election. The current board
— Bozievich, Handy, Sorenson, timber family Republican Faye
Stewart and former Springfi eld mayor and one-time Republican
congressional hopeful Sid Leiken — is listing to the right. The board
and Lane County’s administration is rife with tension.
Many whose employment with the county has been terminated
have had diffi culty speaking out about what has been going on
behind the scenes.
County employees have been asked to sign a “resignation and
release agreement,” apparently in exchange for a settlement payment.
EW has obtained a copy of one of these agreements. It says, among
other things, that the county and the terminated employee “shall
not make or publish any statement, orally or in writing, or instigate,
assist or participate in the making or publication of any statement
that would or could adversely affect, libel, slander or disparage the
other, or expose to contempt, or ridicule or cast in a negative light,
the other party.”
As the more right-wing board struggles its way through another
round of budget woes, it looks like the process of how money is
spent, as well as just who is making the decisions about taxpayer
money, may once again need to be scrutinized. Almost $50,000 is
being spent on a biased social media PR series calling for unions
to take cuts. The county spent $5,000 on controversial software the
board had not approved, and an opportunity for Lane County to
receive $10 million in grants, improve energy effi ciency and help
low-income residents has been left sitting on the table.
The commissioners have begun to draft a mission statement and
work on long-term goal setting. So will the county begin a process
that will get it back on track?
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 14, 2011
11